COLLEEN MOORE GASIOROWSKI

Sunday

Jun 10, 2018 at 12:01 AM

Colleen Moore Gasiorowski passed away peacefully Saturday, June 2, at her home in Bensalem after a courageous battle with cervical cancer. She was surrounded by family members and her beloved pets, and received numerous visitors and countless calls during her final weeks. Colleen was one of twin girls born July 4, 1952, to the late Robert Moore and Joan H. Moore of Levittown. She graduated from Bishop Conwell High School, and spent 20 years in the workforce before deciding, with the encouragement and help of her husband, to pursue her lifelong dream of getting a college education. In 1992, she completed an AA from Bucks County Community College, and then went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Urban Studies in 1994 from Temple University. There, her high academic achievement earned her membership in both Phi Beta Kappa and Golden Key honors societies. In 1995, she began work on a post-graduate degree at University of Pennsylvania, at the same time launching a new career in academia at Penn. She was awarded a Master of Liberal Arts degree with a focus on Environmental Studies in 2000. For her thesis, she researched the impact of exotic invasive vegetation on the Wissahickon Valley, and evaluated the results of restoration efforts. For the past 15 years, Colleen served as Graduate Studies Coordinator for Penn's Department of Biology, a position that involved administration, admissions, event planning, grant writing and advising. She loved her work but, perhaps found the greatest rewards in helping the students, many of whom credit her with their own academic success. Despite the demands of her job, Colleen also found time to devote to other pursuits that were important to her. She was an avid environmentalist, a political activist, a practitioner of yoga, a former marathon runner, a prolific and highly accomplished knitter, a reader of books, a fighter for women's rights, and most of all, a lover of animals, especially dogs. She did volunteer work at animal shelters and rescue organizations, sometimes adopting dogs with special needs and taking in the pets of friends who could no longer care for them. Colleen is survived by her husband, Ed Gasiorowski; her mother, Joan H. Moore; uncles, Rev. John Moore and James Moore; siblings, Eileen Berchem, Robert Moore, and Patricia Glass; nieces, Amanda Demitropoulos, Meghan Moore, and Kaitlin Hatrock; and nephews, David Berchem, Robert Moore and John Glass. She will be also be greatly missed by her sister-in-law, Noreen Moore; brothers- in-law, Douglas Berchem and Clifford Glass; her cousins, Joan Hendrickson, Judith and Kenneth Gorsuch, Carol Parsons, Nancy Hendrickson Riley, Valerie and Mark O'Neill, and Mathew and Shannon Moore; as well as by hundreds of friends, colleagues and current and former students. A Celebration of Colleen's Life will take place in September with details to be released. Donations in her name may be made to the Philadelphia Headquarters of the Pennsylvania SPCA, 350 E. Erie Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19134. Fluehr Funeral Home Bensalem fluehrfh.com

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